SAFE FOOD LIST FOR RABBITS
Safe Food for Rabbits-
This is as comprehensive a list as I can come up with, I may have left a few things out and would be happy to hear from you, i will add them and will post comments to this page! The names given are the common names, and I’ve given all the ones I know. However it is not a guide to the nutritional value of these foods and as always when starting rabbits on a natural feeding program go slow so the gut flora can adapt to the new feeds you are feeding your rabbits.
RABBIT SAFE FRUIT-
(Feed very, very sparingly… Super sugary! Up to 2 tbsp daily) :
Apple (NO core or anything containing seeds, unless all seeds removed)
Apricots (NO PITS)
Banana (fruit and peel)
Blackberry (stem, leaf and fruit)
Blueberries
Carambola
Cherry (NO PITS)
Cranberry
Currant (black and red)
Cucumber
Grapes (fruit, leaf and vine are edible)
Huckleberry
Kiwi Fruit
Mango
Nectarine
Orange (NO PEEL- segments only)
Melon (all melons)
Papaya (NO SEEDS)
Peach (NO PITS)
Pear
Pineapple
Plum (NO PITS)
Raspberries (twigs, and leaves – astringent)
Rose hip
Starfruit
Strawberries (and leaves)
Tomato (red fruit ONLY; no stems or leaves)
Tangerine (NO PEEL – segments only)
Watermelon
RABBIT SAFE VEGETABLES-
Alfalfa Sprouts
Artichoke Leaves
Arugula
Asparagus
Baby Sweet Corns (like in stirfry)***
Beet Greens
Beetroot
Bell Peppers (green, yellow, red, orange…)
Bok Choy/Pak Choy
Carrot Greens (tops)
Carrot (limited amount, due to high sugar content)
Celeriac
Celery (cut into small pieces to limit choking on strings)
Cucumber
Chard
Chicory Greens (aka Italian Dandelion… see discussion here )
Clover (WHITE only)
Collard Greens (be cautious, may cause bladder sludge (high calcium)
Dandelion Greens (no pesticides)
Eggplant (purple fruit only; leaves toxic)
Endive
Escarole
Grass (if cut from your own chemical/fertilizer/poison free back yard-I spread it out and dry it)
Kale
Lettuce (Dark Green/Red Leaf, Butter, Boston, Bibb, or Romaine – NO ICEBERG [no
nutritional value, may cause diarrhea])
Mustard Spinach
Nappa/Chinese Cabbage
Okra Leaves
Pak Choy/Bok Choy
Pumpkin
Radicchio
Radish tops (Limited amounts: can cause gas)
Raspberry Leaves
Rhubarb (RED STALKS ONLY – POISONOUS LEAF)
Squash: Yellow, Butternut, Pumpkin, Zucchini
Swiss Chard
Turnip Greens
Watercress
Wheat Grass
Zucchini
SAFE IN MODERATION:
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Kale
Mustard Greens
Spinach
SAFE FOODS:
Agrimony
Alfalfa
Apple
Avens
Balm
Banana
Barley
Basil
Beetroot
Blackberry
Borage
Broccoli
Buckwheat
Burnet
Camomile
Caraway
Carrot
Celery
Celeriac
Chervil
Chicory
Chickweed
Chinese leaf
Cleavers
Clover, WHITE
Coltsfoot
Comfrey-I feed fresh young leaves and also dry for winter tonic, but most breeders say they feed it slighty wilted
Coriander
Corn marigold
Corn spurrey
Cow parsnip
Crosswort
Cucumber
Dandelion
Dead-Nettles
Dill
Dock BEFORE FLOWERING
Endive
Fat hen
Fennel
Goosefoot
Goosegrass
Goutweed BEFORE FLOWERING
Ground elder BEFORE FLOWERING
Hawkbit
Hawkweed
Heather
Hedge parsley
Horseradish
Jerusalem artichoke
Knapweed
Knotgrass
Kohlrabi
Lavender
Lovage
Mallow
Marjoram
Mayweed
Maywort
Meadowsweet
Melon
Milk thistle
Mugwort
Nipplewort
Oats
Orache
Oxeye daisy
Parsley
Parsnip
Peas
Pear
Peppermint
Pigweed
Plantain
Pumpkin
Purslane
Radish GREENS
Raspberry
Sage
Savory
Sanfoin
Shepherd’s purse
Silverweed
Sow thistle
Soya
Strawberry
Swiss Chard
Tare
Tomatoes(fruit only leaves and stocks toxic!)
Trefoil
Vetch
Vine leaves
Watercress
Watermelon
Wheat
Yarrow
SAFE TREE AND SHRUB LEAVES-Should always feed only fresh young leaves:
Acacia
Apple
Beech
Birch
Blackberry
Cherry
Hazel
Horse Chestnut
Lime
Mountain Ash
Mulberry
Pear
Poplar (not black)
Raspberry
Strawberry
SAFE TWIGS-
Apple
Birch
Blackberry
Fir
Hazel
Hawthorn
Maple
Pear
Raspberry
Spruce
Willow
SAFE FLOWERS-
Aster
Carnation
Daisy
Geranium
Geum
Helenium
Hollyhock
Honesty
Marguerite
Marigold
Michaelmas daisy
Nasturtium
Rose
Stock
Sunflower
SAFE HERBS-
Basil: Lemon, Globe, Thai, Mammoth, Sweet, Genevieve
Borage
Camomile
Caraway
Clover
Chervil
Comfrey
Coriander/Cilantro
Dill: Fernleaf, Mammoth
Fennel
Garden Cress
Groundsel
Lavender (Not for pregnant does; can cause fetal expulsion)
Lemon Balm
Lovage
Marjoram
Mint: Pineapple sage, pineapple mint, apple mint, orange mint, peppermint, lemon thyme, cinnamon basil, lime basil, lemon basil, sweet basil, licorice basil, “licorice mint” (anise hyssop), spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, and basil mint.
Oregano
Peppermint
Parsley: Curly and Flat-Leaf
Rosemary
Sage: Pineapple is quite good
Salad Burnet / Small Burnet
Summer Savory
Tarragon
Thyme
Posted on February 26, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged flowers, food, fruit, herbs, leaves, moderation, natural food for rabbits, safe, shrub, tree, twigs, vegetables. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
Awesome and very informative list. Thank you!
Wat can I feed my bunny like drink wise. Water etc. ?
Water is the most important feed of all, you can add certain supplements to the water such as ACV(apple cider vinegar) or GSE(grapefruit seed extract)
May i ask a question… I live in a place almost surrounded with grass. I don’t know what kind of grass it is, if it is cogon or carabao grass. I feed it to my rabbit only a single straw, without drying it up but washed. Can I feed lots of it to my rabbits? Please answer…
A rabbits diet in the wild would consist mostly of grass. I would feed a lot more than you are, start by adding more each day and see how the rabbits do.
do you have pictures of grass that rabbits eat? Can you email those to me at jolomanalang@gmail.com. thank you
))
Hi Rick,
I found your site through the TSP program with Jack. I just finished listening to the programs you did on The Human Path. I have several questions I would like to discuss with you. One question I will ask here is do you see any problem with making herbal tea’s and giving them to the rabbits in their water?
I have a large number of herbs that my wife and I use and until I can grow them for the rabbits this spring in the garden, I would like to start giving our heard the benefits of herbs.
If you would please email me, I would like to discus many other topics.
Thanks for all the information you give out, it is greatly appreciated.
Mike
I see no problem with adding tea to your rabbits water, start out slow as with any new food item, and don’t overdue it rabbits have lived for a longtime without tea! (a good one would be purpleconeflower)
I made up a tea consisting of 2 table spoons of cut dried Comfrey, 2 Dandelion and 2 Echinacea in a quart and a half of water. Boiled it and made a concentrate. I mixed a half cup of that into a gallon of water. You can just tell a color change in the water. We will watch the rabbits over the next several days to see if their is any noticeable change in their stool.